Playlist, Friday 3/21

I had a blast at Friday's show.  Thanks to all of you who called in with requests!  I have to say, as much as I love having guests in, there's nothing quite like just spending two hours with just the music.  Tune in next week to catch Meemaw and win tickets to the Weakerthans!

Peter, Bjorn and John, "Chills" from Writer's Block

Sibylle Baier, "Tonight" from Colour Green: Classic German folk recorded in the 1970s that hasn't garnered any recognition until her son passed her recordings along to Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, who passed it along to Orange Twin and got this album released in 2006.  Beautiful.

Alec Ounsworth, "We Met at the Cemetery" (Demo):  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah demo, not currently on any releases of theirs but played frequently at live shows.  Expect to see it on an album in the future.

Cory Branan, "Jumper Cables" live on Antennas to Heaven:  From last time Cory Branan and Ben Nichols were in the studio, unreleased.  I can't get over this song.

Brooke Waggoner, "So So" from Fresh Pair of Eyes

Ween, "Blue Balloon" from La Cucharacha

Beach House, "All the Years" from Devotion

Jimmy Eat World, "Lucky Denver Mint" from Clarity: A throwback to my youth.  I loved this album; I still do.

Mates of State, "Middle is Gold" from Team Boo

Neutral Milk Hotel, "Holland, 1945" from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

School of Language, "Rockist, Part I" from Sea From Shore

The Mattoid, "I'm Gonna" from The Glory Holy

The Mae Shi, "Pwnd" from Hllyh

Elf Power, "Paralyzed" from In a Cave: To be released this Tuesday!  I'm way excited about this one.

Kelley Stoltz, "To Speak to the Girl" from Circular Sounds

These United States, "The Business" from A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden

Lucero, "Last Night in Town" from Nobody's Darlings

Pavement, "Silence Kid" from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Wrens, "This Boy Is Exhausted" from The Meadowlands

Band of  Horses, "Our Swords" from Everything All the Time

Dinosaur Jr., "Just Like Heaven" (Cure cover) from Ear-Bleeding Country

Pixies, "Hey" from Doolittle

The Mountain Goats, "Autoclave" from Heretic Pride

The Ladybug Transister, "The Reclusive Hero" from Argyle Heir

Circulatory System, "The Lovely Universe" from Circulatory System

Meemaw, "Fever Dreaming" (Prerelease)

Sian Alice Group, "Murder" from 59.59

XTC, "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her" from The Big Express

Sian Alice Group tomorrow at 6pm on WRVU!

Updated:  Just spoke with Rupert, and apparently Sian's lost her voice since SXSW and the band is going to have to cancel their show tonight as well as the WRVU appearance.  As far as I know the other bands will be playing still, and Sian Alice Group have promised to come back this summer to play Nashville and come on the radioshow then.  They're really sad to be missing it (as am I) and I'm looking forward to seeing them next time.

Tomorrow the kids from Penguin Parade are graciously donating forty-five minutes of their show for me to come in and chat with a band who I've had a whirlwind love affair with since I stumbled upon a writeup in a local Chicago paper, Sian Alice Group.  I looked them up online, listened to a few tracks, sent them a myspace message, and  a few hours later was talking with one of the founders on the phone about coming into the station.  

It's a wonder I've gone this long without catching word of them.  Their debut album, 59.59. is rich with dark, melodic chants and bassnotes and something sounding like birdcalls, evoking references to Black Mountain and Spiritualized.  I can only imagine how it's going to translate into a stripped-down set tomorrow.  They opened a few shows for the Spiritualized in fact, and their debut even features John Coxon as a special guest.  Also, you may recognize Douglas Hart (crazy hair and leather jacket above) from Jesus and Mary Chain, another past love of mine.

They're playing at The End with The Fear & Trembal, Kissing Robots, and Billie, kicking off at 8pm according to The End (so really, 9 or 10).  Tune in tomorrow at six for a preview!

From 59.59:

"Murder"

"Way Down to Heaven"

Since we last talked

It's been an exhausting couple of days getting used to being back in town and having work to do once again.  Did anyone make it out to Black Mountain on Monday night?  More on that later maybe, but despite Black Mountain being one of those bands that just kind of comes out onstage and plays rather than performs, I thought the music was even better live and I didn't even mind the guys playing air guitar in front of me.  I may have even swung my hair around a little bit.  Fist-pumping definitely occurred.

 

I will be back at the radiostation for the show this Friday, but I'm sad to say it will be an abbreviated version.  I'll have to head out after the first hour to go get the theatre ready for the ballet show that evening.  (If any of you make it over to the Troutt theatre at Belmont, I'll be calling the first dance!)  The first hour, though, will be better than ever. 

Happy Birthday Amy (who you may remember from the WRVU benefit about a month ago) will be coming in the station to play some music and chat before all their upcoming performances next week!   Tune in at four for a sneak preview of their very first full-length, Sue.  Amy will be performing a free solo show at Grimeys on Tuesday (3.18), and the full band will be celebrating their CD release next Friday (3.21) at The End, which promises to be fun as well, with Eureka Gold and Hot New Singles opening the night.  I'll definitely be there if I'm in town.  HBA always puts on a great show!

From EP:

"Bait"

"Mystery Scars"

Chicago Shopping Music

Gotta love Chicago.  I've been here since Tuesday night, doing job interviews and wandering around alone, and was joined this evening by my sister to help her tour colleges and see the town.  If you care to read my personal escapades, feel free to head over to my livejournal, but I was thrilled today to hear both The Magnetic Fields' Distortion and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' Real Emotional Trash while shopping around.  Classic.

My real musical excitement of the trip, however, was singing "Rocky Top" and all eight minutes and twenty-nine seconds of Don McLean's "American Pie" down at Blue Frog last night.  Three cheers for Jim Beam!

Real Emotional Trash is currently streaming on Stephen's myspace if you want to sample before you buy.  Came out this Tuesday, and I'll be picking up my copy just as soon as I get back in Nashville.  I like to keep my money local as much as possible.

Also, catch Stephen on 3.25 with John Vanderslice at The Mercy Lounge for a mere fifteen bucks.  Tickets are currently onsale at Grimey's (cash only!), and will be eighteen bucks the night of the show.  The Mercy's tough to sell out, but you'll want to be there early for a decent spot most likely.  

It's also worth mentioning that there's a super cheap party/show happening at the new Local Honey tomorrow if you're in Nashville.  Sisters, Muggabears, & Wizardz (members of Meemaw and Jeff) are playing at seven pm for five bucks.  Local Honey's moved from its former home above Grimeys to 1207 Linden Avenue, right off of 12th Avenue before you reach Mafioza's if you're coming from Wedgewood.  Aside from Local Honey being a really cool place to shop for vintage (mostly if you're a size two though.... anything above size six is hit or miss) they've been supporting local music and art more and more and making it easier for lesser known local bands to get the audience they deserve.  Consider it a half houseparty, since Local Honey's in a former house anyway.  Should be a great early evening event.

I'm sick about missing the show tomorrow, but so it goes.  See you all back in Nashville on Sunday!

It's official: Nobody cares about The Donnas.

I've been trying so hard to give away this pair of Donnas tickets and have discovered: no one in Nashville cares.  Both winners that were drawn on the radioshow didn't call in to claim their tickets, no one's responded to my offer for them... the listeners of WRVU are so nonplussed about the Donnas coming to town that even fifty bucks worth of free tickets can't convince them to venture into the estrogen-fueled commercial badgirl rock that is The Donnas.

I mean, I'll be honest: I'm not going.  I don't really care at all about The Donnas.  Look at the absurd amount of feathered hair and metal studs going on in the above photo.  There's a lot of packaging going into making them look like icons for the modern female teen rock movement, but come on--there's nothing in their heeled boots and leather jackets that seems the least bit legitimate.  Still, do we all need to be cultural snobs in the events we attend?  Can we only support music that doesn't try to make money, that doesn't want to be cool?  Yeah, such an outright attempt at image can be a bit ridiculous, but you can't look at Of Montreal without recognizing there's an image they're trying to project as well--a very different one, but a distinct one nonetheless.  The White Stripes practically  made a name on their iconic look--granted, with damn good music to accompany it.

So are The Donnas just an empty look?  I don't think so.  They're music's not the most, oh, intellectual thing around, but it's solid fun rock, and hell, for a free night of music, it's not a bad deal.

So this is my last plea:

SOMEONE TAKE THESE DAMN TICKETS.

Let me know by tonight at midnight if you're interested.  Please.  Somebody?

MP3:

The Donnas, "Are You Gonna Move It For Me?"

"Don't Wait Up For Me"

The Mae Shi: Hllyh

The Mae Shi were born from television static and neon lights, raised on amphetamine and Super Mario characters in the bowels of nacho-stained arcades. Well actually, they’re from LA, which probably does make all those statements completely true, and they’ve just released their third proper full-length, Hllyh, of which one thing should be said up front: no one in this band can sing.

Now that that’s out of the way, prepare yourself for forty-five minutes of synthesizers, chants, self-destruction and speeches from God. Dan Deacon-esque video game pop. Everyone banging on something or another. Part one is exhausting. "Pwnd" reminds me of zombie movies and The Protomen. "Boys in the Attic" is delightfully noisy. Then the eleven minute epic of "Kingdom Come" happens (which, by the way, transforms into a danceparty about -5:27 if you REALLY have to fade it out early, but it’s worth all eleven minutes), we slip unnoticeably into "I Get Almost Everything" and we’re chanting selfishly at the tops of hills and suddenly you think “damn, this is starting to sound like an album.” Then we’re running again. Part two really shapes things up, and proves that when The Mae Shi can keep their focus for more than two minutes, they can write one hell of a musical sequence. I think I’m just envious of their apparently unending energy (which is rumored to hold up flawlessly during their live shows as well). And the more I listen to it, the more I get it. These guys are having fun. And they don’t care that I can’t keep up.

So with all that, verdict: worth listening to. Worth playing. Attention-deficit disorder reigns supreme.

And seriously, listen to "Kingdom Come". I don’t care that it’s eleven minutes long. You listen to Sigur Ros, don’t you?

The Mae Shi play SXSW next week and then will continue to play around LA if you happen to be cursed enough to live in that area.  

The Mae Shi:

"Pwnd"

"I Get Almost Everything"

"Young Marks"

Buy Hllyh here.